second draft

second draft
by Wynn Everett

this is not hillbilly folk singing
he insisted, there is form,
a necessary pattern,

no need for commas
breaking the rhythm
the syntactic unit

subtracts from the world
while removing punctuation
allows for the divine

don’t rhyme
it reads beginner
aren’t we beginning?

fight against first person
keep tone universal
punctuation undercuts

movement, as many end stops
can be interesting but also
expose your lack of education

and your theme, he said,
a theme overdone,
love?

but more interesting – the enemy.
if one can find a muse to hate
aggravating enough to justify the ink

write away, dig deeply
with smiling pens
deaf and exploding,

go.

2 thoughts on “second draft

  1. Wynn Everett teaches us in his poem the necessity of form
    in a condensed reality without resorting to a didactic lesson
    plan when dealing with the Muse.

Leave a Reply